We started the company in 2003 and have an impeccable safety record.  Our passengers constantly comment on our professional bus drivers and the comfort of our custom made leather seats.  Many say that riding on one of our charter buses is like riding first class in an airplane.

All of our coaches are equipped with satellite radio, large video screen monitors,  clean restrooms, wood panel speakers a galley in the back and a card table can be ordered for a small fee.

Click on the above video to watch our 2 minute company video that shows you exactly what our coaches look like and to meet the owners of the company Edythe and Irving Harris.

Call 301-292-4848 to schedule a personal tour of all of our coaches.

Book early as our coaches fill up very quickly for the year.

Because league structures were shaky during the Great Depression and also because certain teams (notably the Kansas City Monarchs and the Homestead Grays) frequently played entirely independent of the leagues, votes were not counted by league, but by geographical location. Hence, the games were known as the East-West All-Star Games. Votes were tallied by two of the major African-American weekly newspapers of the day, the Chicago Defender and the Pittsburgh Courier.

Freedom riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States to test the United States Supreme Court decision Boynton v. Virginia (of 1960).^[1] The first Freedom Ride left Washington, D.C., on May 4, 1961,^[2] and was scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17.^[3]

Boynton v. Virginia had outlawed racial segregation in the restaurants and waiting rooms in terminals serving buses that crossed state lines. Five years prior to the Boynton ruling, the Interstate Commerce Commission had issued a ruling in Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company that had explicitly denounced the Plessy v. Ferguson doctrine of separate but equal in interstate bus travel, but the ICC had failed to enforce its own ruling, and thus Jim Crow travel laws remained in force throughout the South.

The Freedom Riders set out to challenge this status quo by riding various forms of public transportation in the South to challenge local laws or customs that enforced segregation. The Freedom Rides, and the violent reactions they provoked, bolstered the credibility of the American Civil Rights Movement and called national attention to the violent disregard for the law that was used to enforce segregation in the southern United States. Riders were arrested for trespassing, unlawful assembly, and violating state and local Jim Crow laws, along with other alleged offenses.

Most of the subsequent rides were sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), while others belonged to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced “Snick”). The Freedom Rides followed on the heels of dramatic sit-ins against segregated lunch counters conducted by students and youth throughout the South and boycotts beginning in 1960.

The United States Supreme Court‘s decision in Boynton v. Virginia granted interstate travelers the legal right to disregard local segregation ordinances regarding interstate transportation facilities. But the Freedom Riders’ rights were not enforced, and their actions were considered criminal acts throughout most of the South. For example, upon the Riders’ arrival in Mississippi, their journey ended with imprisonment for exercising their legal rights in interstate travel. Similar arrests took place in other Southern cities.

The competition began on April 29, 2011 at 7:30pm and ended on May 1, 2011 at 7:30pm.  Teams randomly picked their genre out of a hat on April 29, 2011 at 7:30pm. They then had 48 hours to write, produce, direct, shoot, edit and deliver a short film that was a minimum of 4 minutes long and a maximum of 7 minutes long with one minute of credits at the end.

The film had to include the following elements:

1. A character named Riley Tompkins, teacher,

2. The line, “I’m taking it one day at a time”

3. And a pencil for a prop.

The Digital HD Film team, lead by husband and wife team Darryl & Renee Pugh chose the genre “Mockumentary”.

WHAT IS A MOCKUMENTARY?

A mockumentary (a portmanteau of mock documentary) is a type of film or television show in which fictitious events are presented in documentary format. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on current events and issues by using a fictitious setting, or to parody the documentary form itself.^[1] They may be either comedic or dramatic in form, although comedic mockumentaries are more common. A dramatic mockumentary should not be confused with docudrama, a genre in which documentary and dramatic techniques are combined to depict real events.

Mockumentaries are often presented as historical documentaries, with b roll and talking heads discussing past events, or as cinéma vérité pieces following people as they go through various events. Though the precise origins of the genre are not known, examples emerged during the 1950s, when archival film footage became relatively easy to locate.^[1] A very early example was a short piece on the “Swiss Spaghetti Harvest” that appeared as an April fools’ joke on the British television program Panorama in 1957.

The term “mockumentary” is thought to have been popularized in the mid-1980s when This Is Spinal Tap director Rob Reiner used it in interviews to describe that film. It is not known with certainty when the term “mock-documentary” was first used,^[2] but the Oxford English Dictionary notes appearances of “mockumentary” from 1965.^[3]

Mockumentaries are often partly or wholly improvised, as an unscripted style of acting helps to maintain the pretense of reality. Comedic mockumentaries rarely have laugh tracks, also to sustain the atmosphere, although there are exceptions – for example, Operation Good Guys had a laugh track from its second series onwards.^[c

We decided to do a mockumentary of the behind the scenes of the Oprah Winfrey Show. It is called, “The Dr. Vicki Show – Behind The Scenes”

Many of the issues we decided to address were black poverty, the sub-prime mortgage scam, health insurance issues, penal institution issues and illegal aliens taking jobs away from the residents of the community.

The stories we used are actually based on true stories from the news or personal experiences.

And while Dr. Vicki seems to be over the top in her style, she is really a strong character with a plan to eradicate black poverty by encouraging all of us to get up off our behinds and making life happen as opposed to waiting for it to happen.

Pro-Tran Luxury Motor Coaches played an important role in sponsoring this film to help offset some of the costs involved in shooting the film as well as providing the motor coach as the backdrop in gathering the mock interviews in downtown Washington DC. Irving W. Harris, III was our very patient coach driver.

The Pro-Tran brand is strategically placed throughout the film and serves as a reminder of the Freedom Rides that took place during the civil rights movement.  The theme song “Freedom” is the common theme throughout the film.

The cast included the following actors: Janet Marie Jones as Dr. Vicki, Yolanda Rose as Dr. Vicki’s assistant Tamara, Eric Lewis as Riley Tompkins, Steve Garrett as Steve and Zach White as Kim Su and Irving W. Harris, III as the driver.

The film was produced by Darryl E. Pugh, Sr. and Renee’ W. Pugh. and was written and directed by Darryl E. Pugh, Sr.

Other crew members including family and friends came together to make it happen.  They included: Michele Lambert as the Associate Producer, Dicey Scroggins and daughter Nneka Scroggins were Storyline Consultants and Nneka also served as Script Supervisor, Billy Epps as the Boom Operator, Harry F. Pugh, Jr. as the guest guitarist, Love Epps as a Production Assistant Renee’ W. Pugh was the Producer and Darryl served as Director of Photography and Editor.

On May 4, 2011, the 7 minute film was screened at the AFI theater in Silver Spring, Maryland and will be syndicated throughout the Internet in hopes to raise money for a full length feature film that the couple plan to shoot later this year.

Once again, thanks to Pro-Tran Luxury Motor Coaches and the cast and crew for proving that black people can come together to create something out of nothing.

THE NEGRO LEAGUE HISTORY

The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed “Negro Major Leagues.”

In 1885 the Cuban Giants formed the first black professional baseball team.^[1] The first league, the National Colored Base Ball League, failed in 1887 after only two weeks due to low attendance. TheNegro American League of 1951 is considered the last major league season and the last professional club, the Indianapolis Clowns, operated amusingly rather than competitively from the mid-1960s to 1980s.

AMETEUR ERA

Because blacks were not being accepted into the major and minor baseball leagues, they formed their own teams and had made professional teams by the 1880s.^[2] The first known baseball game between two named black teams was held on September 28, 1860, at Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey. The Weeksville of New Yorkbeat the Colored Union Club 11–0.^{[citation needed]} In 1862, a newspaper reporter looking for a game between two white teams stumbled upon a game between black teams and covered it for his paper. At the time, baseball was commonly deemed recreation around which social gatherings were held.

Immediately after the end of the American Civil War in 1865 and during the Reconstruction period that followed, a black baseball scene formed in the East and Mid-Atlantic states. Comprising mainly ex-soldiers and promoted by some well-known black officers, teams such as the Jamaica Monitor Club, Albany Bachelors, Philadelphia Excelsiors and Chicago Uniques started playing each other and any other team that would play against them.

By the end of the 1860s, the black baseball mecca was Philadelphia, which had an African-American population of 22,000.^[3] Two former cricket players, James H. Francis and Francis Wood, formed the Pythian Base Ball Club. They played in Camden, New Jersey, at the landing of the Federal Street Ferry, because it was difficult to get permits for black baseball games in the city.Octavius Catto, the promoter of the Pythians, decided to apply for membership in the National Association of Base Ball Players, normally a matter of sending delegates to the annual convention; beyond that, a formality. At the end of the 1867 season “the National Association of Baseball Players voted to exclude any club with a black player.”^[4] In some ways Blackball thrived undersegregation, with the few black teams of the day playing not only each other but white teams as well. “Black teams earned the bulk of their income playing white independent ‘semipro’ clubs.”

Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2008, the city has a population of 35,770, with 266,268 people living in the Atlantic City–Hammonton metropolitan statistical area. The 3 routes into Atlantic City are the Black Horse Pike/Harding Highway (US 322/40), White Horse Pike (US 30) and the Atlantic City Expressway. Atlantic City borders Absecon, Brigantine, Pleasantville, Ventnor and West Atlantic City (part of Egg Harbor Township).

Atlantic City officially became a city in 1854. The new city contained portions of Egg Harbor Township and Galloway Township

My name is Edythe Harris and I’d like to welcome you aboard Pro-Tran, the ultimate in luxury motor coaches. I’d like to take a moment and go over some of the features and rules of the coach.

First, lets cover how to operate the seating. To operate the arm rest, just reach down and pull up.  To put the arm rest down, you push straight back and down.

We also have a center arm rest. To operate that you just reach back and pull down. If you no longer wish to use the center arm rest just push it back.

All of our custom leather seats have a recline feature. In order to operate that you just simply reach down, pull up the reclining lever and push back. To bring your seat up, you do the same thing.  And if you happen to be sitting on an inside seat, just push the lever forward and recline.

We also have individual air vents. To turn the air vent on, simply turn the knob toward the rectangle. To turn it off, turn the knob toward the circle.  You can also adjust the air vent to the angle you prefer.

Also, for your convenience, there are individual reading lights at every  seat.

For your safety, please hold onto the hand rails while moving about the coach. Also for your safety, in the event of an emergency, there are two emergency exits in the roof. One in the back and one in the front.

In order to release the emergency handle you have to reach up and pull down on the red handle and then push the actual hatch up.

We also have four emergency windows on each side of the coach. Those windows are marked with red handles. In order to open the emergency window on the side, you must grab the handle, pull down and push the  window out.

Also for your convenience, we have a restroom in the rear of the coach. Please remember to hold onto the railings as you go back and forth to the restroom.  Once inside, you lock the door by turning the white knob clockwise or to the right. By doing so, it illuminates the occupied sign at the front of the coach.

Flushing the toilet is very easy. Simply push the black button where it says flush. Please do not push the red button unless there is an emergency. Toilet tissue should be put into the toilet. Once it is flushed the water will circulate and the tissue will go down. Sanitary hand cleaner has also been provided for your convenience.

Snacks and beverages are allowed on the coach. However, there are strict requirements regarding the kinds of containers that are allowed. Containers without secure tops are not allowed because they can come off and spill.  Bottles with screw tops and secure travel mugs are permitted.

When exiting the motor coach please use the handrails. The driver protection screen is not to be used as a handrail.

We want to thank you for using Pro-Tran for your luxury travel needs. Now sit back, relax and enjoy your trip.

To contact Pro-Tran Luxury Motor Coaches, please call 301-292-4848.